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| The moment we'd all been waiting for, as Han Solo quick draw blasts at Darth Vader. |
Filmed on the 14th May, 1979, the Bespin Dining Room scene was a hive of action and pyrotechnics. To create the exciting sequence where a
surprised Han quickly pulls his gun to fire
on Darth Vader, the scene would be
filmed from multiple views and
required numerous types of practical
effects, edited together to look
convincing on-screen.
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| Rear angle not used in the film. |
Firstly, in a
full length master shot, Harrison Ford
pulls his gun and shoots blanks at
Prowse as Vader on the other side of
the room, who deflects the bolts
(pyrotechnic squibs detonating on his
hands to simulate the bolt
deflections).
Then, close-ups were
filmed of detonating laser blast
explosions on Vader’s hand
(performed with Prowse in the
costume). This was then followed by
a closer-in shot with Han, in front of
Leia and Chewie, firing at an off set
Vader. When this is filmed, the
camera continues rolling,
photographing Ford’s gun being
pulled out of his hand firstly by a
stage hand and then by wire. This is
then followed with Ford being filmed
with the gun replaced with a strings attached prop that is soon firmly out of his
hands. A separate scene is then shot
of the gun, photographed on its own,
being thrown across the room by
studio hands, and then photographed
being thrown on a wire towards
Vader (taking numerous takes and
angles to accomplish). When portions
of all these sequences are put
together in the editing room the
illusion is created that the Dark Lord
has used his powers to resist Solo and
pull the blaster from the smuggler’s
hand and into his own.
A tight close-up shot of Solo quickly pushing Leia behind him, as he pulls his
gun on Vader, was not used in the film, appearing only in the April 1980 trailer.
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| A great outtake image showing the on-set pyrotechnics. Image: The Ben Ageros Collection. |
Once again, Han Solo’s blaster during
filming was an adapted World War II
German Mauser C-96, reduced down and
given a new scope and muzzle.
